Be See Do

               It has become common parlance that there is no real evidence of what it takes to be an American.  It is a common attack against anyone saying this thing or that thing is American or is not American to say that no one really knows what an American is or what an American thing is.

               Is this really true, though?

               Is there really no thing upon which we can fix our attention and say, ‘Yes, this thing is American.’

               Many people say, ‘Yes, there is Jazz.  It is the one purely American art form that has originated in America.’  For them they are satisfied with this.  That’s enough.  Music.  Okay.

               Some people, and there are many of them today, however, claim there is nothing that truly is American.  As if all that is around us is merely the happenstance of circumstance – it just happened, so to speak.  As if everything were here and had always been here – all these statues, businesses, farms – cities like New York, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Houston, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Richmond, Orlando, Seattle, Portland…as if they had all sprung out of the earth like weeds.

               There are some truly militant types of people who become nearly unhinged if someone should dare to utter the phrase, ‘Oh, that is not American.’  They fly to the barricades, ready to fight and bring down thunder and brimstone on anyone that would challenge what they believe by uttering the words that would indicate that it is not American to do that thing.  They do no argue, however, that is IS American to do the thing so derided, they resort to the argument that there is no real definition for anything or anyone being American.

               I believe this is untrue.  I do not believe that type of argument is true.  I don’t think there is a grain of truth in it.  I don’t think it holds water.  I think it is a weak argument and it undermines and undercuts reason, common sense and the way of life and the life that created the peculiar notion after all.

               Is there anything that is American?  I say that there is.  I hope that after you read this book you will agree with me, or have what you know to be true confirmed as true – or if you disagree – at least you will be able to understand that there are many people who believe that there are many things which are American and that there are many people who are truly American.

               At this point in history there are about 320 million people living in the United States of America.  In the world they say there are 7 billion.  That makes the population of the United States about 4 percent of the world population.  In the United States itself about 20 percent of the population is new to the nation.  Amongst the entire population, new and old, immigrant and natural born, there are many citizens who do not believe there are American things.  There are many people who consider themselves hyphenated Americans – Belgian-Americans, Spanish-Americans, French-Americans, German-Americans, Italian-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Indian-Americans, Asian-Americans – even Mexican-Americans and Canadian-Americans for goodness sake!  Those last two never fail to make me laugh when I see them because Mexicans and Canadians are, because they are in North America – already Americans.

               I think you can see something at this point that I was lucky enough to see long ago.

               It just doesn’t make sense.

               Some people – and it is because of these few that I am writing this – actually do not like Americans.  They live here in the United States of America but they are convinced without a doubt that they are smarter and better than Americans.  You may know one or two them.  They are either newly arrived immigrants or even might be second or even third generation – but at the root of their being they either hate Americans and the idea of America or they are convinced it is below them to participate.

               That’s a shame – but I am not writing this book for them – I am writing it because of them – but not for them.  They may never understand and that is too bad for them.  I am writing this book for the rest of us.  The Americans.  The people in this country who were raised as Americans to be Americans and those millions of new Americans who have joined us because they not only want to live with us – they want to be like us.

               This book is for the memory of all those people (Americans) who have made it possible to be American in this modern world.  This book is for the benefit of all those who find themselves, simply because they were born here and educated here, to be Americans.  This book is for all those folks who have fought, charmed and worked their way to our shores just to have one little chance to be an American.

               We are a minority.  We are fewer now in relation to the entire population of the world than we have been for a long time.  If I am not mistaken – we were at a similar disadvantage by point of numbers at the time when this nation was created – when this country declared itself by right of Liberty and Justice to be the United States of America.

               So maybe all is not lost.  Maybe this guide to what it means to be American will not be some dusty old side note to history.  Maybe this book will not be supporting evidence to an out-of-date dictionary reference without soul or heart as to what an American is.

American

A·mer·i·can    [uh-mer-i-kuhn]

adjective

1. of or pertaining to the United States of America  or its inhabitants: an American citizen.

2. of or pertaining to North or South America;  of the Western Hemisphere: the American continents.

3. of or pertaining to the aboriginal Indians of North and South America,  usually excluding the Eskimos, regarded as being of Asian ancestry and marked generally by reddish to brownish skin, black hair, dark eyes, and prominent cheekbones.

4. a citizen of the United States of America.

5. a native or inhabitant of the Western Hemisphere.

6. an Indian of North or South America.

7. American English.

8. a steam locomotive having a four-wheeled front truck, four driving wheels, and no rear truck.

               Maybe it will show someone what it means to be an American.

               I invite you, as an American, to Be, See, Do.